For 12 years Janet Southouse and English Heritage seemed a perfect match as she ran a tea room at historic Pevensey Castle.

That is, until 57-year-old Mrs Southouse was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

After her years of service, she expected sympathy from the publicly-funded body devoted to celebrating and preserving the nation's heritage.

Instead she claims she was cruelly snubbed - locked out of the tea room and left £30,000 out of pocket.

The English Heritage-owned Castle Cottage Restaurant and Tea Rooms, beneath the walls of the castle, has been closed since last summer because of the dispute.

Mrs Southouse, of Boreham Lane, Wartling, near Hailsham, was excited to win a tender to provide catering there in 1990.

She said: "It was an opportunity to provide work for village people and turn an old-fashioned tea shop into a thriving concern."

She paid English Heritage 15 per cent of turnover for the concession which, as she upgraded the cafe and attracted crowds, could mean up to £25,000 a year.

Two years ago she took out a loan to carry out essential repairs and refurbishment, after claiming English Heritage had stalled for two years.

It agreed to draw up a new contract, which reduced the concession charge to ten per cent for five years if she paid for the work herself.

Then, in January last year, she was diagnosed with cancer. She runs a nearby village pub, The Royal Oak and Castle, and managed to find a friend to keep that going but was less successful with the tea rooms.

She said: "I just was not well enough to work the 16-hour days I needed to put in at the restaurant.

"I wrote to English Heritage explaining the position and saying I couldn't reopen the restaurant until I could find a chef-manager to run it for me. It didn't even reply."

In June last year she received a letter from English Heritage suggesting she terminate the contract, but she persisted and found a chef ready to reopen the following August.

Mrs Southouse said: "I was told I would be trading illegally and the next thing I knew the locks had been changed and we couldn't get in."

Her plight worsened as her cancer spread to her liver and she returned to hospital for more treatment.

She thought she might get back the £30,000 refurbishment costs but both sides and their solicitors are still wrangling over it.

Mrs Southouse said: "After 13 years doing business together you would have thought they would have tried to help me somehow.

"Instead they've kicked me when I am down. But I've always been a fighter. I'm fighting the cancer and I'm not going to give up fighting English Heritage."

An English Heritage spokesman said: "We are sorry for the personal circumstances that Mrs Southouse finds herself in and have tried at every stage over a nine-month period, during which she failed to open the tea room, to be understanding.

"At the same time, we have a duty to meet the needs and expectations of visitors to Pevensey Castle.

"Our contract with Mrs Southouse requires her to run the catering franchise at the tea room all year round.

"Mrs Southouse also runs a pub across the road. In December 2002, she closed the tea room but kept the pub open.

"We were extremely sympathetic and patient, agreeing to her numerous requests for delays in opening.

"But in the end, after nine months, we had to conclude that her inaction had brought her contract with us to an end as she simply did not fulfil her side of it by running the tea room.

"Mrs Southouse still owes us commission from the period the tea room was last open.

"Naturally we hope she makes a full and speedy recovery and we are happy to continue to discuss any outstanding issues with her."